Commissioners amended code in 2016 to hold monthly meetings at County Commissioner’s office
NAHUNTA — A recent wave of demands to move County Commission work session meetings to the Brantley County Courthouse have been given by residents attending the sessions.
Dennis Dudek and Lily Fulk brought the matter up again during the Tuesday, September 1 work session with nearly 50 people squeezed into the meeting room at the County Commission building.
Capacity for the meeting room is 50 people. During the August 4 work session, the room was at capacity with many standing outside the building waiting for an opportunity to speak.
“I’d like to see this point of the meeting be held where it’s supposed to be held, in their statutes or our statutes,” said Dudek, who was the first of 10 to speak during Tuesday’s Public Participation. “We are the people that oversee these people (commissioners). They’re our employees, and look how we’re acting as business people. I think we’re failing. It’s good to see more people coming.”
Fulk also questioned how the October meetings could be changed (October 6 work session to October 13, October 8 regular meeting to October 15).
“How is it that we can ask to change the meeting dates?,” asked Fulk. “But when y’all have been asked over and over and over again to move these meetings back to the courthouse so that there is room for people to sit and not have to sit outside like the last meeting.
“I’d like to understand why that is. Why are we not having these meetings in the courthouse when it’s been asked by multiple people? That is what is in our paperwork saying that we should be doing it there. So, anyone have an answer for me?
“It’s blatantly obvious that y’all don’t want people to be active in the community, and lack of transparency and y’all’s inability to answer this question says volumes.”
The courthouse is no longer used regularly for commission meetings. According to a release by the County Commission office, the Code for the meeting site was amended January 7, 2016.
“Regular scheduled work session of the board of commissioners shall be held at 6:00 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month. All regular meetings shall be held on the Thursday following the first Tuesday of each month. All regular meetings shall be held in the board of commissioners’ offices. A notice containing the foregoing information shall be posted at least one week prior to the meeting and maintained in a conspicuous place available to the general public at the regular meeting place of the board and on the county website.”
Prior to the 2016 amendment, the Code adopted in July 2006 stated: (c) Meetings shall be held in the courtroom of the county courthouse, 117 Brantley Street, Nahunta, Georgia.
(d) The board of commissioners shall and do by the provisions of this section schedule a standing work session of the board of commissioners on the fourth Thursday of each month starting at 2:00 p.m., beginning in the month of August, 2006. This meeting shall be for the purpose of considering any and all matters which are legally appropriate for the board's consideration and review, and to generally set the agenda for its regular meeting in the following month, the said work session meeting to be held in compliance with the State of Georgia's Open Meeting Laws.
According to Georgia’s Open Meetings Act, local government bodies and elected officials are not legally required to answer questions or respond to citizens during public participation periods.
For general local governments (like city councils and county commissions), state law does not guarantee an automatic right for the public to speak at meetings, let alone force officials to answer back.
There has also been concerns about the agenda being amended and items being added and whether it is legal.
Georgia law states: “Failure to include on the agenda an item which becomes necessary to address during the course of a meeting shall not preclude considering and acting upon such item.”
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